According to the China Passenger Car Association, sales of sedans, sport-utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles rose 14.9 percent from a year ago to 1.63 million units in November. And expectations of strong demand until the end of this year pushed the production figure up 23.6 percent to 1.77 million units.

The auto market has been following a high-growth track over the past three months, which means the economy is gearing toward a soft landing, the association said. Although it is still hard to predict how much the economy will rebound next year, gross domestic product will very likely achieve faster growth than this year.

But the share of domestic brands in the passenger car market dropped slightly this year as Japanese players lured back some consumers they had lost during the Diaoyu Islands dispute last year.